Wednesday, March 02, 2011

EXIT MISBUN, ENTER XIA

The saga of Misbun Sidek continues as no decision has been made by the former coach of world number one, Lee Chong Wei.

And from the grapevine, there are indications that Chong Wei has been entrusted to find a replacement who will help him to glory in London 2012.

The best person would have been Li Mao but he is know with Indonesia.

So the option is the next best thing, someone who has inside knowledge of what makes Lin Dan tick, someone who can do the trick for Malaysia to win gold at the Olympics.

Enter former world champion, the man who denied Wong Choon Hann the world title in Birmingham, Xia Xuanze.

Speculation is that Xuanze, who is one of the singles coach in the Chinese camp is set to leave and Chong Wei will probably negotiate the deal when he plays in the Chinese league.

Chong Wei had held discussions with an Indonesian coach when he played in the club championships last week, but that coach has impressive credentials for mixed doubles and not singles, hence the apprehension from BAM.

At one time or another Xia has experienced victory in most of badminton's biggest events.

The exception came in his sole appearance at the Olympics when he was beaten in the semifinals of the 2000 Games in Sydney by Indonesia's Hendrawan.

Xia settled for a bronze medal there after defeating Denmark's Peter Gade in the playoff for third place.

Earlier in that season Xia had won the prestigious All-England Championships over eighteen-year-old Taufik Hidayat.

He captured men's singles at the IBF World Championships in 2003 by defeating Malaysia's Wong Choong Hann.

Finally, in international team play, he was a member of the Chinese squad that ended a long drought by capturing the highly coveted Thomas Cup (men's world team competition and trophy) in 2004.